What's happening?

Music, inclusivity, connections and friendship is at the heart of who we are.

Singing for Dementia

1 in 3 people born in the UK this year will develop dementia in their lifetime. There are 944,000 people with dementia in the UK.
Chief Radio has been accepted by Creative Scotland to receive funding to start a Dementia choir. We reached our target of £1500 in 9 hours. We stretched this to £3000 and we got there in 24 hours. This will give us enough resources to provide singing groups for up to 6b. months.

The idea is to provide people living with the dementia and Alzheimers and carers somewhere to come and sing, have a coffee and just be among friends.

Caring for a loved one with progressive memory loss can impact normal family life in a variety of challenging ways. Music can have many benefits in the setting of dementia. It can help reduce anxiety and depression, help maintain speech and language, is helpful at the end of life, enhances quality of life and has a positive impact on carers. Our funding page is now open and the more money we raise the longer we can keep the groups going for.
If you would like more information please get in touch.

Kids Rock music sessions

In February 2023 we bought some guitars with donations and then Kirsty and Kerry went into Lochgelly West primary school to do a Kids Rock music day. They turned a class into a band and taught the chords on guitars, how to include percussion, singing, dancing and also the class created artwork to promote their band.
Staff all have PVG, are trained and experienced and work alongside teachers during these classes.This is Lochgelly West Primary school where we had a fun afternoon together turning the kids into their band 'The Chicken Curries'

We are always looking for funding for these classes but the team can also be hired to provide any music tuition in schools or privately.

Community Charity Fundraiser

On the 3rd of December we had a team take over Abbyhill church and we provided a community day. We had guitar and art lessons. We had tea coffee and cake, we had singing and lots of Chief Radio music. With some of the money we bought £500 worth of gifts for our local care homes and £500 was split between 10 local charities.
Nicola Murray Foundation, Cottage Family Centre, Upmo, Andy's Mans Club, Number 6 Edinburgh, The butterfly trust, West Lothian 50+ Network, Gift of Christmas appeal Fife, Forth Hedgehog Hospital, Bliss Scotland. We will also be buying some musical instruments with the money so we can go into community groups and teach music.

10 Care Homes bring their residents for a Christmas Party

Since 2013 we have been providing a Christmas party for residents of care homes. Sing in the City and Hanley and the Baird collect money and buy food and drink and this year, the first year back since COVID we had our 10th get together in Edinburgh.Lots of singing, dancing and games take place and we look forward to maybe having a second party in Fife from this year.

Chief is on Edinburgh DAB

We are thrilled to be on DAB after only 2 years. Making it easier for people to stay connected and not feel isolated.
It is possible to make new friends through radio. Chiefers now attend gigs, excercise and socialise together. People they had not met before are now firm friends.

Scan your DAB radio at home or in your car till you find the station. Save it to one of your presets and spread the word.

Virtual parties

When no-one was able to have get togethers because of COVID, we came up with the idea of a virtual party. Started originally by Kirsty Baird when they provided a Girls Go Live party for a member of Sing in the City. Lauren was 21 in 2020 and unable to meet up with anyone or go out. So the Hanley and the Baird provided an hour long set of music on their Facebook page.
When the Girl Guides couldn't have their annual award party in 2021, then Kirsty then decided it could happen live on air on Chief Radio. We now provide Virtual Parties for anyone that needs one.

Free Choir

Thanks to the Leith Benevolent Association we were able to run a Free Sing in the City choir in Leith. It was a 10 week session where anyone was able to take part, sing and make new friends.
There was a little performance at the end of it and we were very thankful to Abbeyhill Parish Church for their venue.

Winners Edinburgh Evening News - Arts and Entertainment award

Chief Radio is extremely proud to have won the Edinburgh Evening News Local Hero Awards in the Arts and Music category.
Kirsty Baird won this award back in 2019 for her contributions to music and the team are thrilled to have their first trophy for Chief Radio that recognises their hard work and commitment.
This was made all the more special with the Edinburgh Playhouse sponsoring this award.

Gifts for care homes

£900 in total was spent on gifts for some local care homes over the last 2 years. Not every resident has someone to give them a present. So Chief Radio listeners and Sing in the City members along with Edinburgh band Hanley and the Baird fixed that for some people.

Happy to know someone cares

We ask care workers what their residents need at Christmas time. Sweets, chocolates, biscuits, cozy socks and comfy slippers always go down well.

Gifts at our pensioners party

For around 10 years we have been providing a Pensioners Christmas party.We hire a room, buy the party food, provide lots of tea and coffee and we sing and dance with our residents and care workers who have now become friends.

Download our new App

The 'Wee station' got a big App so now it's easier than ever to tune in to Chief Radio. Available on iPhone or Android, go to your App Store, search for Chief Radio and download. No need for 3rd party apps anymore. Download and take a look around.Give us a 5* review and also easy to share with your friends.

In April 2021 Chief Radio along with Sing in the City are having a 'Daunder' for Cancer Research UK. The charity itself are having a virtual Race for Life but for those listeners and members that can't manage a 5k, we decided to encourage a Daunder instead. We are setting our own target over the month and asking our friends and family to sponsor us.
Everyone has had a close on COVID19 for the last 12 months but we can't afford to forget about cancer and as we Daunder we think about the loved ones we have lost and who are still fighting their battle. Anyone wishing to support Chief Radio in raising money can do so here.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kirstybairddaunder

The Scotsman article on Kirsty Baird BEM

Please click here for the full Scotsman story

Chief Radio Founder Kirsty Baird talks of her first gigs.

Kirsty made the front page of the Edinburgh Evening news thanks to Liam Rudden's story about her recent award (BEM) and her early days in music before Sing in the City and Chief Radio.Read the full article here

Read the Edinburgh Reporter article on Kirsty Baird after her New Honours award

Kirsty was thrilled, surprised and humbled to be given the British Empire Medal in the New Years Honours. Read the full story here

The removal of the Scottish chart by the Official charts, Apple and Kantar

One of the reasons Kirsty Baird set up Chief Radio was because she wanted a platform to feature and focus on the Scottish Chart. It seemed nobody was playing it. All the commercial stations in Scotland were playing the UK chart even though our Scottish one has been around since 1991.

We were the station that noticed that the chart had been removed and we asked the Official Chart Company, Kantar and Apple Music why it had been stopped. We started this petition.

Please sign our petition to reinstate the Scottish Chart

This is now in the hands of our MSP's and we hope that we have better news in the months to come.
We believe that Scotland should have it's own chart. A more relevant chart that shows the music bought in Scotland. A chart that not only reflects the music that is being bought in Scotland but one that shows the talent that we have here north of the border and the talent from the rest of the world that we support.